New Delhi, Sept. 17 -- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case to investigate the violation of foreign contribution regulation act (FCRA) by the US-based global Christian mission, The Timothy Initiative (TTI), in connection with the illegal use of foreign debit cards to withdraw cash worth crores of rupees in certain Naxal-affected regions, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) wrote to CBI in July seeking a probe in the matter. In its FIR filed on August 27, CBI has named several functionaries of TTI, including Jonathan S Rajan (overall operations head), Micah Mark, the key financial operative, who was caught on April 24 at Kempegowda airport while carrying 24 debit cards, Ajit Verghese Mathai, finance head, and three field functionaries - Bablu Kurmi, Supreme Joy, Varghese Chako, unknown individuals and the organisation itself as accused. They have been charged for violating sections pertaining to receiving and use of foreign funds under the FCRA, criminal conspiracy under the BNS and Information Technology Act. CBI has alleged in the FIR, seen by HT, that the accused, as part of a conspiracy, "coordinated and withdrew foreign funds through ATMs across India using foreign debit cards, issued by Truist Bank of USA". Funds worth around Rs.92.55 crore (USD 99,95,240), in contravention of legal provisions of FCRA, were withdrawn from November 2025 to April 2026, it added. "Further, funds amounting to approx Rs.44 crore were withdrawn using foreign debit cards across multiple states such as Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Assam etc, from January 2024 to March 2026," CBI said. TTI is not registered in India under FCRA - foreign funding law that allows receiving funds from abroad and utilising them. Its website leads to a message that says, "Country blocked. Access to this page is forbidden". Officials said the weblink became inaccessible in India and the cloud-based data maintained by the company in the US was remotely deleted from the back-end servers soon after the agency conducted the searches. ED had raided the organisation and its office bearers in April under the foreign exchange management act (FEMA) during which it found the irregularities. The Karnataka High Court, while rejecting a plea of TTI office bearers, ruled that "one of the gravest threats to national security in the present times is the clandestine funding of extremism.". The FIR further alleged that Mark had made multiple foreign trips and returned with foreign debit cards. "Mark is a key person in the financial operations of TTI in India. Over 1,000 such debit cards have been distributed in India over the past few years," it said....